Man goes drag pretending to be dead mom

It is a case that is grabbing headlines, for sounding like something out of Alfred Hitchcock movie.

A man is accused of dressing up in drag pretending to be his dead mother.

New York Police call it a bizarre case of impersonation.

Prosecutors charged Thomas Prusik for dressing up like his dead mother for six years to cash her social security checks defrauding the government out of as much as $100,000.

"He did a pretty good job of covering himself up. So that those who didn't know what to look for wouldn't be able to see anything," said Michael Vecchione with the Brooklyn District AttorneyÆs Office.

Police say this surveillance tape at the DMV in Brooklyn shows Prusik dressed like his mother Irene, trying to renew her drivers license this past April, even though the mother died in 2003.

"He not only thought he could get away with it. He did get away with it from 2003 to now," said defense attorney Rebecca Woodland.

Police allege the 49 year old dressed up to collect his mother's social security.

And investigators say when the mother died, Prusik gave the funeral director incorrect information and death records are also wrong.

Police say Prusik dressed the part with a wig, make-up and nail polish.

But investigators say Prusik may have had help.

Also shown on surveillance a second man also charged, who claims to be the dead woman's nephew.

Apparently they forged some deeds for some properties and they tried to switch them back in to their names and the properties are valued at over a million so we could be looking at twenty five years here," said Woodland.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges and are being held on bail.

WSFA Staff

In the nation's capital, two possible 2020 contenders, former Vice President Joe Biden and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke at a breakfast celebrating King's life that was held by the Rev. Al Sharpton.